November Presbytery Meeting at Cook School

The Native American Christ is probably the most recognizable image of Cook School for Christian Leadership. Those of us who are used to the name "Cook College" will need some time to get used to its new name.

Our guest at the November Presbytery Meeting was The Rev. Raafat Girgis, Associate for Racial/Cultural Diversity with the Dept of Evangelism of the PCUSA. He spoke about the need to do evangelism in congregations that intentionally recognize, celebrate and incorporate diverse membership in worship and Christian life together. Since I couldn't get a decent photo of him during the presentation, you see him here with The very most Reverend David Hicks, who manages to get himself into a lot of my pictures.

William Norton of Scottsdale PC) advanced from Inquirer to Candidate for ministry. I was sorry I missed his welcome, because I heard that he had a fan club cheering him on, with balloons and celebration.

Jerry Miller advanced to Honorable Retirement. I missed that event, too, but managed to catch him later with Diana. . . but I'm not showing it because Diana hates having her picture taken, and I'm so thankful I remembered, so she won't hate me for the rest of our lives.

While all this important Presbytery business was going on, I was hosting our Get-Together on the other side of campus. Our topic was Gratitude - November, Thanksgiving, Turkeys, etc. - and I'd planned a light-hearted little meditation and two craft projects. One was a left-over Halloween pumpkin transformed into a turkey. In this project, however, the paper feathers cannot be added until every participant writes items for which they are grateful on the feathers, making this truly a "thanksgiving turkey."

But the more I studied the topic, the more convinced I've become that Gratitude needs to be a major focus of our Christian lives. Honestly, I would have been happy to commandeer that Presbytery Meeting and spend the entire day preaching the importance of Gratitude to every Presbyter on the premise.
We routinely express thanks to God in our worship. But that's the trouble: it's so easy to let that thanksgiving become routine. Through the past year, we've been making a conscious effort to approach the entirety of the Presbytery meeting with a spirit of worship. Still, when we set the hymnals aside and turn to our agendas, discussions build into arguments and issues escalate into problems. The business of the Presbytery is important, and life together inevitably involves problems and conflict. That's just the way life is. It's our nature to focus in on disagreements, in the same way that it's natural to fret over the things we don't have, the funding that didn't materialize, and the people who should have volunteered but didn't.
It's not natural to be grateful. That's why thankfulness is listed as a spiritual gift ... or is it a fruit of the spirit? As I'm looking up the text, my eyes pass over the opening of Ephesians, and I'm feeling that shiver that comes when the word becomes the Word: ". . . to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption. . . according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us." Were we just talking about gratitude?
Here's the text I was looking for: Colosians 3: 12-17. "... teach and admonish one another with all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing ... to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
In my research I happened on a quote by G. B. Stern, "Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone." With that in mind, the Sidekicks created greeting cards with which to express their gratitude for friendships. We particularly tried to include those things most often taken for granted, such as morning coffee, a full gas tank, a well-prepared lesson, or an encouraging word. It must have been a successful project, because we completely ran out of envelopes, stickers and glue!

Barbara Walker, our Moderator Elect, seemed to be everywhere, lending a hand and helping everything to run smoothly. I am particularly thankful for her help in reserving rooms and getting the practical elements arranged.













Barbara saw me coming at her with the camera. Here are some other shots where I did a better job of sneaking up on people.

To the right, David, Deanne and Dick, conferring just after the end of the meeting.

Shelly Moe interpreted the sermon in dance. Below, Shelly talking with Gene Vogel.











Followed by some very serious note takers.














And a few images from late in the day.